Today we’re happy to share the first in a new video series from BBC Learning English and The Open University called ‘Shakespeare Speaks’. The series celebrates Shakespeare’s use of language with light-hearted video clips that imagine the inspiration for Shakespearean phrases that are still in use today.

In today’s video the origin of Shakespeare’s phrase “all that glisters is not gold” is explored. Here Shakespeare’s daughter gets a shock when her finger turns green – and Will takes the opportunity to teach her a valuable life lesson:

MeaningThe phrase all that glisters is not gold warns us not to be fooled by people or things that look good – because they might not be as good as they look on the surface!

Example sentence
Well that car looks fantastic, but all that glitters is not gold. Check the engine before you buy it.

Note
In modern English, the word glisters is often changed to glistens or glitters.